No.
It'd mean losing Poch.
It'd mean losing Poch.
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It has always seemed to me that there were too many cooks in the kitchen during all of our DoF spells. It doesn't seem coincidental that our greatest success on the field has come when we've had a more streamlined organizational structure under 'Arry and Poch, notwithstanding that many of the good players of those spells were purchased by DoF's.
For a DoF to work you need a hands-off chairman and a manager more interested in coaching the team than broader ideas about grand projects and organizational development. Clearly that is the furthest thing from the situation at Spurs.
The likelihood is that the problem with Spurs' transfer business the past year is a liquidity crisis, not something wrong with the football operation.
For a DoF to work you need a hands-off chairman and a manager more interested in coaching the team than broader ideas about grand projects and organizational development. Clearly that is the furthest thing from the situation at Spurs.
The likelihood is that the problem with Spurs' transfer business the past year is a liquidity crisis, not something wrong with the football operation.
You're obviously entitled to your opinion but Stambouli successful, he was here for one season and made 12 appearances.
A dof is appointed to oversee the football side of the club and the manager usually defers to the person in said position. This was Levy's preferred option and it was hit and miss trying to get it right. Pochettino wants to be in control of the football side of the club and in my view would balk at the idea of one being appointed plus Levy has found his man in Pochettino so has veered away from his preferred dof method. So it's a no from me as i value our manager more than i want dof appointed.
Without any doubt, the Football Club is in theory protected with a DoF as it is the Manager/Coach that has an ave life span of 18 months. The idea as I understand it is that it is the DoF that sets out the philosophy of how the Club want to play its football (or at least agree to this with the Board) and how to achieve this on a budget of 'X' or 'Y'. Should the manager get the sack within 18 months then another is sort and installed but there is no major upheaval in personnel and most importantly the philosophy of the club, in theory, remains unchanged. What this approach is basically preventing is recruiting a manager who plays a defensive brand of football, replaced with a manager who plays an attacking brand of football, in both cases it will take longer than the 18 months they will probably have to change how the club play from one style to the other, ultimately stopping any form of progress in either style.
However, the major downside would be is the DoF any good. Does he really know how to build a team and instil a culture and a way of playing? Do you have the Manager/coach report to him or not? Who's is responsible when it doesn't work? What specific responsibilities do each own?
Personally, I've always liked the idea of a DoF, allowing the coach to spend as much time as possible coaching.
But with Poch taking the reigns of the club as Manager and that also considering with the Clubs best every league results in two generations, why the fuck would we want to change this?
Almost certainly the jury is still out on Poch's ability to identify, scout and bring in his players. He may have already done this e.g. we have to second guess whether Sissoko was his or Levy's (my gut says it was Levy's but I'm guessing).
Perhaps another way to look at Poch's ability in player identification is to study who he has got rid of. I don't think they can be any grey matter about the players that have left were all down to Poch and I am hugely impressed in this area. I can only think of TWO players that have left that are continuing to play quality football and that's Capoue and Walker, it's probably only fair to include Fazio in that short list too who has had been a mainstay for Roma, Oh probably include Townsend who is clearly better at Palace but wouldn't get in ahead of any of our current lot. Whilst I believe we would be a better side today if Walker was still at the Club, I agree 100% that we had to sell him to protect the ethos that is fostered around the team. Capoue's found a better fit, he was on the whole not that great with us and I watched him get absolutely ripped to shreds by an U23's Liverpool side, his last ever game for us. (so between 2 and 4 players, but should be little doubt they would get into this current team with the exception of Wlaker (yeah I know one person would absolutely disagree with that last selection LOL).
So who would have any of these players back?
Wimmer
*Capoue
Janssen (assuming he's gone)
Soldado
*Fazio
*Walker
Bentaleb
Mason
Edwards (loaned but not pulling up trees)
Onomah (as above)
Carter-Vickers (as above)
N'Jie
Yedlin
Carroll
Pritchard
Chadli
*Townsend
Chiriches
Dawson (?)
Kaboul
Satmbouli
Holtby
Lennon
Soldado
Adebayor
GKN
In my mind, that list tells you that Poch knows his shit.
However, the major downside would be is the DoF any good. Does he really know how to build a team and instil a culture and a way of playing? Do you have the Manager/coach report to him or not? Who's is responsible when it doesn't work? What specific responsibilities do each own?
Personally, I've always liked the idea of a DoF, allowing the coach to spend as much time as possible coaching.
But with Poch taking the reigns of the club as Manager and that also considering with the Clubs best every league results in two generations, why the fuck would we want to change this?
Almost certainly the jury is still out on Poch's ability to identify, scout and bring in his players. He may have already done this e.g. we have to second guess whether Sissoko was his or Levy's (my gut says it was Levy's but I'm guessing).
Perhaps another way to look at Poch's ability in player identification is to study who he has got rid of. I don't think they can be any grey matter about the players that have left were all down to Poch and I am hugely impressed in this area. I can only think of TWO players that have left that are continuing to play quality football and that's Capoue and Walker, it's probably only fair to include Fazio in that short list too who has had been a mainstay for Roma, Oh probably include Townsend who is clearly better at Palace but wouldn't get in ahead of any of our current lot. Whilst I believe we would be a better side today if Walker was still at the Club, I agree 100% that we had to sell him to protect the ethos that is fostered around the team. Capoue's found a better fit, he was on the whole not that great with us and I watched him get absolutely ripped to shreds by an U23's Liverpool side, his last ever game for us. (so between 2 and 4 players, but should be little doubt they would get into this current team with the exception of Wlaker (yeah I know one person would absolutely disagree with that last selection LOL).
So who would have any of these players back?
Wimmer
*Capoue
Janssen (assuming he's gone)
Soldado
*Fazio
*Walker
Bentaleb
Mason
Edwards (loaned but not pulling up trees)
Onomah (as above)
Carter-Vickers (as above)
N'Jie
Yedlin
Carroll
Pritchard
Chadli
*Townsend
Chiriches
Dawson (?)
Kaboul
Satmbouli
Holtby
Lennon
Soldado
Adebayor
GKN
In my mind, that list tells you that Poch knows his shit.
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Stambouli successful? He played less than 500 minutes in the league before being sold.
Chadli I agree was an adequate Kranjcar type signing to round out the squad. He was replaced by Son who is vastly superior.
Justification for having one is that if the manager leaves there is some continuity, but it doesn't really work that way as it assumes that the replacement manager will get on with and work well with the DoF.......
Also, it's probably just dawned on me what is a successful DoF? The answer is Monchi and why? because he generates huge sums of money from player trading whilst keeping the club stable. He's not building a championship winning side. Could same the same at Southampton (recently not now), Watford, Sevilla, Roma, The Red Bull teams in Germany. All examples of having a "successful" DoF but that success is measured in the Club earning hundreds of millions of pounds in player trading.
Lyon were the idol of every forward-thinking club chairman back in the day (including Levy), and they won the title every year, but that was France and it was a long time ago now.
No. We do need better scouts though. Poch trusts his team of trainers etc. It seems to me he doesn't trust his scouts, rightly or wrongly. We need scouts who pick good players and focus on delivering the kind of player he wants and who he can build a good relationship with. The lack of signings and poor signings suggest we don't have that.
I think the title of Director of Football is wrong.
Poch spends (rightly) a lot of time coaching (and has been very successful at it. He also manages a side playing twice a week for much of the season.
Result is that he cannot do the job of acquiring all the players - he needs to have someone scouting players, looking at the academy players coming through and challenging Poch sometimes on what players might need to be moved on and what players should come into the squad.......and also ensuring we don't end up with too many overseas trained players which has certainly hampered us in the last 2 seasons.
But Poch the manager has to have the final say...just needs to have advice to help him.
Poch spends (rightly) a lot of time coaching (and has been very successful at it. He also manages a side playing twice a week for much of the season.
Result is that he cannot do the job of acquiring all the players - he needs to have someone scouting players, looking at the academy players coming through and challenging Poch sometimes on what players might need to be moved on and what players should come into the squad.......and also ensuring we don't end up with too many overseas trained players which has certainly hampered us in the last 2 seasons.
But Poch the manager has to have the final say...just needs to have advice to help him.
Forgive my ignorance, and please educate me if I'm wrong, but I've always assumed that Poch identifies the players he wants, and then Levy and his team would be the ones negotiating potential deals. If that's the case, what good would one more person do? If he's going to recruit the players Poch's team identifies, and only handle recruitment/negotiations, then do we really need him? If he's going to override Poch and sign who he wants, even if Poch disagrees, then why sow the seeds of discontent and risk pushing Poch out (unless you 1) know he's leaving anyway, or 2) are going to sack/replace him)?
Poch must have input on signings, but Levy has to manage the books. I have to imagine they tier the players they're scouting by some combination of ability/availability/affordability. We're never going to get all of Poch's first choices, but it seems that there's a disconnect and either he's unwilling to settle for a second or third choice, or Levy is unwilling to spend on a second or third choice.
This summer, Poch said we must be brave, I think we must be creative. We have to find ways to add depth. We don't need to sign first team replacements, but we certainly need some depth due to the number of games/injuries. The more successful we are, the more matches (obviously) and if Poch doesn't think the youngsters are ready, then find short term older/experienced players who can bridge the gap until they are.
Maybe i'm over-simplifying it..
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Poch must have input on signings, but Levy has to manage the books. I have to imagine they tier the players they're scouting by some combination of ability/availability/affordability. We're never going to get all of Poch's first choices, but it seems that there's a disconnect and either he's unwilling to settle for a second or third choice, or Levy is unwilling to spend on a second or third choice.
This summer, Poch said we must be brave, I think we must be creative. We have to find ways to add depth. We don't need to sign first team replacements, but we certainly need some depth due to the number of games/injuries. The more successful we are, the more matches (obviously) and if Poch doesn't think the youngsters are ready, then find short term older/experienced players who can bridge the gap until they are.
Maybe i'm over-simplifying it..
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I always assumed he had a team doing just that. It's impossible for one person to do all of that on his own. Is it not a given that they have different teams managing these different responsibilities all reporting up to Levy??
There is a team of scouts to look at players.
But I'm not sure there is a person doing the other roles......it used to be Levy but I suspect he's spending a lot of time on the stadium. So if Poch has decided he can do that.....the number of overseas trained players problem could be down to Poch wanting too much control (and most managers would) and not understanding he needs a high level person to look after these things and give advice to Poch.....
Even at the cost of Poch walking?
Mate i am taking the piss out of these constant knee jerk reactions, surely you can see that! the fact for 3 years nobody even said director of football, lose 2 games after an injury crisis now its on the agenda list, same old crap on here
Done with all this
If Poch doesn’t want one, then we don't need one.
